


Time Heals

by morjens



Series: Moments [10]
Category: GOT7, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Blood and Injury, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Reincarnation, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27859426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morjens/pseuds/morjens
Summary: There’s no signs of Jackson in this room. Usually he comes earlier than Namjoon who checks everything, as a general should. Jackson leaves all his clothes on the floor before he as his last thing at night places them properly on the shelf. Well, if Jackson isn’t here yet it explains why it’s so quiet. He usually brings the noise, voice with him. He talks, he laughs, he just is and somehow world is more livelier, for a moment.
Relationships: Kim Namjoon | RM/Jackson Wang
Series: Moments [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/968127
Kudos: 9





	Time Heals

**Author's Note:**

> Historical AU! Gosh, I dont even know what to say because I wrote this in like two days, I guess I just wanted to write something completely different after NanoWrimo. I hope you enjoy this even though this might be more sad than my earlier works. ^^'' 
> 
> Also! I listened Bandage's Invisible while I wrote this, so if you want to get in the same mood while reading, here's link: [*click*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiOq1r9e1uo)

Namjoon sighs before he slides the door open and steps in. The room is dimly lit and it’s night already. There’s someone playing harp in some room far away from his and it’s beautiful. Nice relaxing sound, Namjoon feels the hum leaving before he even notices, and he taps his finger lightly against his thigh when he steps further into the room. There’s couple of candles lit near the window so he can see where he steps.

He takes arm part off of his armour and places it on the table near the hallway. That way he can remember to take it with him when he leaves next morning. The same thing for another arm and soon, quickly and professionally he has changed completely to the robe. His armour can wait until tomorrow, until he has to leave again. Lastly he places his sword on the corner, near his futon where it’s easy to take it with him. He should get it sharpened soon, he tries to remember to take it to Seokjin next time.

It’s surprisingly quiet. He didn’t think it would be like this when he first stepped in. It’s never this quiet. He hums along the faraway harp sound and hears the steps before he can see the door slide open again.  
  
“Master? You’re here already?” older woman steps in with a tea pan.  
  
“Just came”, Namjoon says and sits by the table and watches as woman pours him tea and settles the tea pan on the table. He can feel how his leg hurts, it’s the old wound still giving him some pain, even after all that time. It’s annoying but he has learned to live with it.

  
“Well, you’re first then”, woman informs him and Namjoon raises his eye brow.  
  
“What do you mean? Jackson was supposed to be here before me.”  
  
“We haven’t seen the master yet”, woman shrugs his shoulders and stands up.  
  
“He was supposed to be here, he told me”, Namjoon repeats and slowly stands up too. He scans through the room but nothing is different.

There’s no signs of Jackson in this room. Usually he comes earlier than Namjoon who checks everything, as a general should. Jackson leaves all his clothes on the floor before he as his last thing at night places them properly on the shelf. Well, if Jackson isn’t here yet it explains why it’s so quiet. He usually brings the noise, voice with him. He talks, he laughs, he just is and somehow world is more livelier, for a moment.

Namjoon enjoys the peace for a while. He waits for the tea to cool a little before he sips it and feels the herbs melt into this tongue, swiping away all the stress from earlier.

  
It’s hard, sometimes, he admits. To be a general, to be the one choosing when to attack, when to stay put, when to retreat. To choose how many soldiers he has to take with him, to try all the plans and see them fail in front of his eyes.

It’s hard, he admits. But Jackson makes it better, somehow. He makes sure soldiers are active, he makes sure everything works fine, makes sure to stay positive. Best captain one could hope for. Always there, always making sure everything works and keeps things straight.

“Master, your bath is waiting for you”, older woman comes back to tell him and Namjoon nods at her. Okay, that’s nice. Bath sound something he really needs and his old bones agree with him.  
  
“Still no sign of the other company?”  
  
“Nothing, master”, woman says and Namjoon sighs.  
  
Where the hell was Jackson? He was supposed to go check the new camp near by the woods just before sun sets. It was something they didn’t have noticed earlier and had to be checked, just in case. Usually it was just some farmers. He took ten soldiers with him because it was a basic check. Maybe he went to swim, Namjoon thinks and drinks the last drops of his tea before setting the empty mug on the tray and rising up.

_“You’re annoying”, Namjoon had said while laughing but Jackson stayed serious._  
  
_“Yeah, I usually am, aren’t I”, he had said and before Namjoon had been able to say anything else Jackson had taken his sword and jumped on top of the horse. “I’ll be back”, he shouted before he rode away._  
  
_Namjoon hadn’t thought anything about that earlier. Annoying? Huh… Did Jackson really think Namjoon thought Jackson was annoying? Was it why Jackson was so serious earlier? Was it something that had bothered the other one for longer time already?_

_Because he had noticed it. Jackson was a open book, really. He didn’t, and couldn’t, seal his emotions away, he was very easy to read as a person. When he was happy, when he was sad, when he was tired; it was all in display._

_Of course, sometimes there were times Jackson was secretive too. And recently even more than usually. It started few months ago, and Namjoon didn’t even notice first. But the little things gave it away. Jackson averting his gaze, escaping to these stupid little travels. Was it something Namjoon had made? Was it something to do with the fact that they were staying in the same place now?_  
  
_Jackson’s house had been ruined in a fire. It was something no one batted eye at, buildings did catch fire really easily and then people just build another one on that place. Jackson was supposed to do that too but then Namjoon had asked if he would want to live with him and first Jackson was happy about it. It was strategically good choice, general and his first captain living together, being able to come up with new war plans much easier._

“Master, your bath”, woman comes to tell him and Namjoon realises he has just stood in his room for the last five minutes, lost in his thoughts.  
  


“Yes, thank you”, he greets the woman and walks behind her to the bath.

“You have a guest tomorrow, too, does Master remember?” woman asks as she starts to scrub down Namjoon’s back.  
  
“Guest?” Namjoon furrows his eye brow. Who…? Has he completely forgotten something important?  
  
“The princess, Master, the princess”, woman sighs and Namjoon remembers. Oh! Oh…

“Ah, yeah”, he stays quiet after that. Princess, yes. He remembers now. Namjoon, at the age 26 still haven’t married anyone and he starts to be old, too, needs to settle down and raise a family of his own.

“When are they arriving?” he asks and woman hums, before answers.

Princess…, his moms last plan before she died. His dearest mom, beautiful at soul but too fragile for fever. And now his father is somewhere else and Namjoon isn’t sure if he is even alright. So Namjoon is the head of the house, no alive brothers or sisters to live with him. He had one, sister, but it’s been ten…, no twelve years already, of her funeral. Death is too normal these days, a frequent visitor in his village.  
  
“Great couple”, woman hums as she washes Namjoon’s hair and is just about to start drying him when someone else enters the room.  
  
“Misawa?” young woman rushes in but freezes when he sees Namjoon. “M-master, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”  
  
“What’s the problem?” he asks calmly, not wanting to scare the other servant.  
  
“We need a doctor”, younger woman tells and Namjoon rises from the bath with a splash, water dripping on the floor with a wave as he climbs off the bath.  
  
“Doctor?” he asks as he grabs the towel from Misawa’s hand.  
  
“Yes, Master.”  
  
“But why?” Namjoon asks, confused. “Is there problems in the kitchen again?” he laughs. “I told to throw away all the flour from last year, it really didn’t look too well.”  
  
“No, Master…, it’s…”, woman looks at Misawa who has paled. Misawa shakes her head, and younger woman rushes to say: “It’s nothing, really.”  
  
“Really?” Namjoon asks. It’s clearly not okay, he can sense that. “I order you to tell me, right now”, he says as he watches younger woman’s lip tremble. Maybe he shouldn’t be so strict.  
  
“It’s the other Master”, woman whispers, eyes glistening with tears and the hand Namjoon has used to dry his head with towel stops abruptly.  
  
“Jackson?”  
  
“Yes, Master”, woman’s voice is still quiet, eyes fixed on the floor.  
  
“What’s going on?”  
  
“He told me to not tell you, Master”, woman winces and Namjoon quickly takes his robe and throws it on. Then he grabs Misawa’s hand.  
  
“Tell me.”  
  
“He’s injured, Master.”  
  
“And…?”  
  
“He might not make it, Master.”  
  
Breath runs out of Namjoon’s lungs. Jackson? Not making it?  
  
“Where is he?” he demands and Misawa sighs before he leads Namjoon to the other side of the house. His father’s old room.  
  
There’s Jackson, always so strong and powerful, always so ready to everything, his voice of reason.

What he sees shocks him. This is not Jackson. _No._

“No”, he whispers, throat tight against the word. “No, no, no.”  
  
This Jackson is pale. This Jackson bleeds blood on the floor, droplets running on his chest. This Jackson looks fragile, not so strong anymore. His face is twisted from pain and he bites into a piece of leather. There are two healers already working with him.  
  
“What… what happened?” Namjoon takes one careful step towards Jackson and the sight breaks his heart. Jackson, his dearest companion, the rock he could always trust, the one to stay, looks so ready to crumble in front of him, all the pain in his body, all the blood in white sheets.

Jackson sees him and immediately closes his eyes. Other healer lifts off the leather piece.  
  
“Joon-ah”, he rasps and his voice pierces through Namjoon’s heart, breaks it to small pieces, so small it’s impossible to heal anymore. “It was a tr—trap.”  
  
“Where are others?”  
  
“There are n-no oth-others. Just m-me”, it’s slow for Jackson to form words, tongue dry and pain clear in his eyes.  
  
“No others?” Namjoon finally steps in front of Jackson and kneels. Gently, oh so gently he takes Jackson’s hand on to his own and Jackson grabs it firmly. His grab is tight, knuckles white but fingers still trembling.  
  
“No others”, Jackson confirms and bites into his lip when other healer lifts off the bloody cloth off of this wound and puts a healing liquid in to it.  
  
“But…, it was just a camp. It was supposed to be…, be a normal check, right?” Namjoon tries to keep the worry out of his voice but to see his most loyal friend like this. It really breaks his heart, breaks his whole persona, everything he knows.  
  
“It w-was the Choi cl-clan”, Jackson stutters and Namjoon wipes his forehead. It’s warm and sweaty, and cold feeling rushes through Namjoon’s spine. Fever, fever, fever. His mother. Jackson.

“They ambushed you?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  


“And you were the only one to get here?”  
  
Jackson nods. “And --, and I f-forced them to f-fight, Joon-ah, it’s m-my fault. They d-died and I-aagh”, Jackson closes his eyes when other wound is treated. Blood is everywhere, even on Namjoon’s robe too, his tunic splotched with red marks.  
  
“It’s not”, he answers gently because it’s true. If anyone’s, it’s Choi clan’s master’s fault. War was getting more intense, Namjoon could sense it.

“Joon-ah…, s-stay with me…, please”, Jackson’s voice trembles as he fights through another pain wave.  
  
“Always”, Namjoon whispers, “always.”  
  
And so he does. He stays there, keeps holding Jackson’s hand. Watches his healers do their job, remove bloody clothes, bring in new herbs to clean the wound. Jackson is still there, Namjoon can see his chest rise. He stays up for the whole night, checks Jackson’s breathing. His chest is still rising, slowly but surely. And then there’s still the harp sound, somewhere distant, something so nice, something to keep him focused and awake through the night. He’s not sue which of his maid is playing it.

“Master, princess is coming soon”, Misawa comes to tell him but he stays, still.  
  
“I don’t care”, he says and means it. He doesn’t care about anything else right now. Only this, only Jackson.  
  
Morning light casts tiny sparks into the dark room. There are couple candles on the window and healers have done their best, they are now sleeping on the room next to them.  
  
“Joon-ah”, it’s Jackson’s quiet voice that shakes Namjoon away from all his thoughts. He doesn’t know what to say or what he is doing but he knows he has to stay right here. He feels his chest tighten, feels the dryness of his mouth as he looks at Jackson. His energetic friend, who he cares so deeply it sometimes crushes him, so tiny now, so different.  
  
“Jackson, try to sleep.”  
  
“Listen”, Jackson lifts his other hand to rest against Namjoon’s cheek. It looks painful, Namjoon can see it but he doesn’t remove the hand, lets it rest against his cheek.  
  
“I will, always.”  
  
“You will do g-great things, Joon-ah. I’m s-sure of that.”  
  
“No, I need you to—”  
  
“Namjoon”, Jackson’s hand slips from Namjoon’s cheek. His eyes teary, face red with fever and whole body covered in now blood red clothes.  
  
“Jackson, you can…, can fight this. You can, I’m sure of it.”  
  
“No”, and this time Jackson is sure, his voice quiet and frail.  
  
“Please, don’t-“  
  
“Let me go”, Jackson begs, his voice raspy. “Let me go Joon-ah and make the world a better place.”  
  
“But—”  
  
“We’ll meet again”, Jackson whispers, his voice so quiet anymore, all his energy focused on breathing.  
  
“I can’t, no I wont—”  
  
“Let me go”, Namjoon barely even hears him anymore, barely sees him through his tears. It pains him. But the look on Jackson’s eyes tells him everything there is to know. How he wasn’t the only one, how they could have been more than they were. And if Jackson promises to meet him again, maybe they will.

And he lets him go. Watches him fall asleep and quietly the fever comes stronger, chest rising slower. Harp sounds beautiful on the back ground but Namjoon can’t concentrate, he holds tight on Jackson’s hand, and finally, Jackson is gone.

Later, much later, he remembers: with his mom years ago, he already burned that harp.

\--

“You’re so annoying”, he says while laughing but Jackson remains serious. The sound of music show is surround them, all the voices loud and clear.  
  
“Yeah, I usually am, aren’t I?”

And there it is, it hits him. How he knows these words, how he knows this person. How he now, at this world, also recognises this feeling, so deep and full of everything. A new chance. _We’ll meet again._

He knows this time he won’t let go.

“Hey, wanna grab a dinner together? After all this hassle. Let’s talk about music, or stuff.”  
  
“Or stuff”, Jackson teases. “But, yeah, sure.”

The sparkle in Jackson’s eyes tells him he won’t either, wont let go.

And then, there’s the harp too, distant but clear. Namjoon is ready to believe in soulmates.

**Author's Note:**

> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/morjens_)  
> 


End file.
